Town charter

Following is an excerpt from the Town of Oneida’s charter, adopted by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1917. For a complete copy in PDF format, click here.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the town of Oneida, in Scott County, and the inhabitants thereof are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate by the name and style of the “Town of Oneida,” and shall have perpetual succession; that by this corporate name and style it may sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, grant and receive, purchase and hold, real, mixed and personal property or sell or dispose of the same for the benefit of said town, and may have and use an official seal.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the boundaries1 of said town hereby incorporated shall be as follows:

Beginning at a set stone twenty-three feet from the northwest corner of J.V. Bilbrey’s residence west of the Southern Railroad, and including said residence.

Thence south 72 degrees east 1,770 feet to a set stone twenty-one feet from the southeast corner of Jarrett Burchfield’s residence and including said residence.

Thence east 1,371 feet to a set stone four and one-half feet from the southwest corner of the Eli Cooper house, on the east side of South Main Street, and including said house.

Thence south 801⁄4 degrees east, crossing Pine Creek at 270 feet, and crossing the right of way of the Tennessee Railroad at 700 feet to a set stone on the east side of a public road at 940 feet in all 1,359 feet to a set stone and iron pin nineteen feet from the southeast corner of A. N. Newport house and including said house.

Thence north 2 degrees and 10 minutes east, crossing southbound track of the Southern Railway at 1,960 feet in all 5,000 feet to a stake on the north side of G. S. Owen’s residence and including said residence.

Thence north 61 degrees and 40 minutes west, crossing Pine Creek at 560 feet, a road at 950 feet, in all 1,889 feet to a set stone northwest of W. A. Terry’s residence and including said residence.

Thence south 451⁄2 degrees west crossing highway at 146 feet, and crossing Litton public road at 485 feet, in all 1,942 feet to a set stone twenty feet from the northwest corner of Cap Coffey’s residence and including said residence.

Thence south 21 degrees west crossing a street at 1,750 feet and in all 4,000 feet to the place of beginning.

Provided, however, that the corporate boundaries of the town of Oneida, Scott County, be and they are hereby changed so as to exclude from the territory within said corporate boundaries the properties of the Pearson Hardwood Flooring Company, containing about three acres, more or less, and being located near the Southwest corner of said corporate limits.

Be it further enacted, That a certain road lying on the North side of the C. N. O. & T. P. Railroad, beginning at the corner of the Jellico Grocery Company’s building and running thence East with the North line of the right of way of said railroad about 150 yards to the present city limits, be excluded from the corporate limits of said town. [As amended by Priv. Acts 1931, ch. 462, and Priv. Acts 1935, ch. 612]

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, that the corporate officers of the Town of Oneida shall be a mayor, four (4) aldermen, a recorder-treasurer,1 and a chief of police.2 The Mayor and Aldermen shall each be elected by popular vote as hereinafter provided in this charter. The Recorder-treasurer and Chief of Police shall be elected by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen for a full term of four (4) years, or until their successors are elected and qualified. [As amended by Priv. Acts 1925, ch. 148, § 2; Priv. Acts 1985, ch. 54; Priv. Acts 1986, ch. 150; and replaced by Priv. Acts 1995, ch. 36, § 1]